Draper Valley Vineyard Offers Artisan, Non-Alcoholic, 100% Wine Grape Juice

UK: Harvey Nichols To Stock ‘ZEO’ Non-Alcoholic Drink

UK: Harvey Nichols To Stock ‘ZEO’ Non-Alcoholic Drink

"Alcohol Free Indulgence"

Article on Spanish alcohol-free wines published in 'Essential Marbella' magazine, p.124

Chile: Non-alcoholic beer is set to control 5% of the market

A piece of legislation in Chile, known as the zero tolerance bill, reduced permitted alcohol levels in the blood to 0.3% per litre and came into effect in March 2012. Since then, consumers have been seeking out alternative products, including alcohol free beers. Local brewery Cerveza Cristal predicts that non-alcoholic beers could represent up to 5% of the beer market in the medium term. At present, they correspond to 1% of the market overall, although a surge in sales was reported when the legislation was introduced, with many supermarkets reportedly running out of stock. Cerveza Cristal has registered double digit growth for its alcohol free beer Cristal Cero since it was launched in 2008. Growth of up to 300% in this segment has been reported since the new law came in. During 2011, a total of 0.4mn litres of non-alcoholic beer was consumed in Chile, according to Euromonitor, compared to Mexico and Venezuela, at 11.4mn litres and 6.5mn litres respectively. Beer consumption in Chile is about 680mn litres, with consumption per capita at 40 litres per year. © Esmerk Source: La Tercera (Chile), 03 Nov 2012, online

Sharia and Beer in Egypt

Sharia implementation used only as a slogan No Islamist party has ever put forward a list of all the Egyptian laws deemed incompatible with Sharia, wrote Ibrahim Issa in the Egyptian newspaper Al Tahrir. Islamist parties and movements use the implementation of Sharia only as slogan, but they never go into details because that would reveal that Egypt applies Sharia law in every aspect except in relation to venial sins. There is no legislation in Egypt that turns something halal (permissible) into something haram (forbidden) or something haram to halal, the writer noted. There were some old religious fatwas that made consumption of beer permissible, but with the 1970s religious expansion, the consensus was that alcohol was haram, especially after the emergence of alcohol-free beer. And so, whether under Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat or Hosni Mubarak, alcohol was never considered halal, even though its production was allowed. The excuse had always been to meet tourists' needs. But tourists do not visit Egypt for its alcohol, and it is quite easy to enforce prohibition of alcohol production and consumption. However, outlawing drug use and smuggling has never stopped it happening. And Islamic history has shown that banning alcohol has never ended its consumption and circulation, the writer said.